Construction of LNG Canada plant still on hold

LNG Canada says media reports published on Tuesday about a definite go-ahead for construction of an LNG plant in Kitimat are misleading.

The reports centred around comments attributed to LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz that were made at an investor conference in Vancouver on Tuesday.

“Since the Final Investment Decision delay in 2016, LNG Canada has been preparing for a future FID targeted for the second half of 2018, which would enable the beginning of construction in late 2018,” said LNG Canada external relations director Susannah Pierce.

She said the final investment decision is up to LNG Canada’s Joint Venture Participants to make, and that the exact date for that decision is also theirs.

“Mr. Calitz’s comments should not be interpreted as an announcement of FID, but his continued aspiration that FID occurs in 2018,” added Pierce.

This isn’t the first time that Calitz’s comments have been misconstrued as confirmation that construction is a go.

In March media reports referred to comments made by Calitz at a conference in Vancouver as proof of a positive FID.

Pierce reiterated at the time that Calitz’s was merely confirming that LNG Canada was working towards having materials ready in mid-2018 to provide to the project’s Joint Venture Participants for an FID.

“If that decision is a positive one, construction would begin right after. The final investment decision, however, and the date that it will be made, will be up to LNG Canada’s joint venture participants to make,” said Pierce at the time.

LNG Canada has stressed before that residents of Kitimat and Kitamaat Village, and the Northern Sentinel, are at the top of a list of interested parties that will be informed once a final investment decision has been made.